Free Republic

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA-The ability to mount an immune response to influenza A (H1N1) infection is significantly compromised by a low level of arsenic exposure that commonly occurs through drinking contaminated well water, scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and Dartmouth Medical School have found. Joshua Hamilton, the MBL's Chief Academic and Scientific Officer and a senior scientist in the MBL's Bay Paul Center; graduate student Courtney Kozul of Dartmouth Medical School, where the work was conducted; and their colleagues report their findings this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. "When a normal person or mouse is infected...

The days when the dietary supplements industry is allowed to regulate itself may be numbered following release of a federal report addressing growing concerns about dietary supplement industry. The report, issued this month by the Government Accountability Office, calls on the Food and Drug Administration to expand adverse event reporting and increase its efforts to educate the public about the safety, efficacy, and labeling of these products. The GAO investigation into supplement safety was made at the request of Congress. According to the 77-page report, the FDA should be tracking all levels of adverse events related to the use of...

Arsenic has poisoned a lake in southwest China that was famous for its hot springs, affecting the drinking water of at least 26,000 people, state media said. Trucks were carrying 80 tonnes of water each day to affected areas near Yangzonghai lake, in Yunnan province. In June the local environmental protection bureau detected dangerous levels of arsenic in the lake. A nearby firm had not built proper containment pools for its waste, and years of accumulated arsenic were leaching through into the groundwater and the lake, an investigation found. The factory has been closed and its managers detained. Odourless, tasteless,...

Reviewed By Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC 13 Million Americans Are Exposed to Dangerous Levels of Arsenic Through Drinking Water Exposure to arsenic, typically through drinking water, is linked to diabetes, according a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Thirteen million Americans — and millions more worldwide — are exposed to drinking water contaminated with more inorganic arsenic than the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed safe. The EPA standard is 10 micrograms per liter. Researchers, led by Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, studied 788 adults who had their urine tested...

Arsenic risk high in Sumatra, Myanmar, Cambodia: study Fri Jul 11, 2:15 PM ET Eastern Sumatra, the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar and Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake are among areas in Southeast Asia facing a high risk of arsenic contamination in the water, according to a study published on Friday. The researchers use innovative digitalised techniques, drawing on geology, geography and soil chemistry, to compile a "probability map" of naturally-occurring arsenic concentrations in five Southeast Asian countries and Bangladesh. The map is intended as a useful pointer for health watchdogs, urban planners and water engineers worried about concentrations of this poison...

Researchers from the University of Dundee in the UK were able to reveal for the first time how Arsenic and other molecules like Arsenic trioxide (ATO), known for many years to cure the acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), help break down the protein causing the leukemia. This achievement may help researchers develop less poisonous drugs to fight the disease.   Professor Ronald Hay (Credit: University of Dundee) APL is a sub-type of AML (acute myelogenous leukemia), and is common at the relatively young age of 40 (AML is common at the age of about 70). In 1992, ATO was found to...

Rice Grown In United States Contains Less-dangerous Form Of ArsenicA new study analyzing several types of rice finds that grains grown in the United States may be safer than varieties grown in other countries. (Credit: Courtesy of Yamily J. Zavala) ScienceDaily (May 21, 2008) — Rice grown in the United States may be safer than varieties from Asia and Europe, according to a new global study of the grain that feeds over half of humanity. The study evaluated levels of arsenic, which can be toxic at high levels, in rice worldwide. Yamily J. Zavala and colleagues point out that rice...

Wife cleared of murder ‘overwhelmed with emotion’ Freed widow fears prisons are full of other wrongly convicted people By Bob Considine TODAYShow.com contributor updated 9:45 a.m. ET, Tues., April. 22, 2008 Having been exonerated of charges she poisoned her Marine husband to death, Cynthia Sommer is out of prison and renewing bonds with her children. But in the back of her mind, Sommer cannot help but wonder how many other wrongly convicted people languish in America’s crowded prisons. “There are so many people who this happens to, and that’s scary,” Sommer told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Tuesday. “That’s a...

Garlic combats arsenic poisoning 14 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service Keya Chaudhuri, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Information on arsenic in drinking water, WHO Arsenic in Bangladesh, British Geological Survey Garlic may provide some relief for millions of Bangladeshis and Indians whose drinking water is contaminated with arsenic. Keya Chaudhuri of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, and her colleagues gave rats daily doses of arsenic in their water, in levels equivalent to those found in groundwater in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Rats which were also fed garlic extracts had 40 per cent less arsenic in their blood...

A team of Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) researchers has determined that low doses of arsenic disrupt the activity of a hormone critical in development. The finding is further evidence that arsenic at low doses (at levels found in U.S. drinking water in some areas) can be harmful. "Arsenic is a natural, yet pervasive, chemical in the environment; we can't seem to escape it," says Joshua Hamilton, one of the authors on this study and the director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth and Dartmouth's Superfund Basic Research Program on Toxic Metals. "By learning how it adversely affects...

About 50 million people are affected in Bangladesh About 140 million people, mainly in developing countries, are being poisoned by arsenic in their drinking water, researchers believe. Speaking at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) annual meeting in London, scientists said this will lead to higher rates of cancer in the future. South and East Asia account for more than half of the known cases globally. Eating large amounts of rice grown in affected areas could also be a health risk, scientists said. "It's a global problem, present in 70 countries, probably more," said Peter Ravenscroft, a research associate in...

Source: American Chemical Society Date: April 9, 2007 Arsenic In Chicken Feed May Pose Health Risks To Humans Science Daily — Pets may not be the only organisms endangered by some food additives. An arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed may pose health risks to humans who eat meat from chickens that are raised on the feed, according to an article in the April 9 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society. Roxarsone, the most common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed, is used to promote growth, kill parasites and improve pigmentation...

Source: University of California, Davis - Health System Date: April 7, 2007 High Arsenic Levels Found In Herbal Kelp Supplements Science Daily — A study of herbal kelp supplements led by UC Davis public health expert Marc Schenker concludes that its medicinal use may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused. Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine over-the-counter herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them. The new study, published in the April issue of Environmental Health Perspectives was prompted by the case of a 54-year-old woman who was...

Source: American Chemical Society Date: March 5, 2007 Elevated Arsenic Levels Reported In Rice Grown In South Central States Science Daily — The largest market basket survey of the arsenic content of rice grown in the United States has found elevated levels of arsenic in rice produced in the South Central part of the country, scientists report in an article scheduled for the April 1 issue of ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal. The University of Aberdeen’s A. A. Meharg and colleagues did the study, which involved analyses of rice purchased at U. S. supermarkets. A previous study...

Ancient Iraqi Art Determined Poisonous Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Jan. 22, 2007 — Some ninth century Iraqi artists may have literally died for their art, suggests new analysis of Iraqi stucco fragments from this period. A fragment, taken from the ancient palace-city of Samarra, contains three arsenic-based pigments that are known to be poisonous and may cause cancer upon exposure. Although the findings will not be published until May in the Journal of Archaeological Science, curators at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, where the fragments are housed, have already taken special handling precautions. "The fragments are stored in a locked...

Rust, or at least one of its constituents, could bring relief to the 60 million people in Bangladesh. They reportedly face the risk of delirium, stomach pains, hyperkeratosis and death as a result of arsenic in their drinking water, which comes from wells in the Ganges River basin. People once thought that cleaning the water would demand an extensive and expensive process involving pumps and a lot of electricity. Researchers at Rice University have now developed a small-scale, cheap and energy-free process to clean well water, which they report in tomorrow's issue of Science. The new method for water purification...

Bottled water said to come from Mecca has been found to contain high levels of cancer-causing chemicals. People have been told not to buy Zam Zam water after tests showed three times the permitted level of arsenic. The water is advertised as coming from the sacred well of Zam Zam in Mecca, which is the most holy city in Islam, and demand increases during Ramadan.

Chile mummies possibly done in by arsenic Thursday, November 24, 2005; Posted: 10:58 a.m. EST (15:58 GMT) SAN MIGUEL DE AZAPA, Chile (Reuters) -- Living in the harsh desert of northern Chile's Pacific coast more than 7,000 years ago, the Chinchorro fishing tribe mysteriously began mummifying dead babies -- removing internal organs, cleaning bones, stuffing and sewing up the skin, putting wigs and clay masks on them. The Chinchorro mummies are the oldest known artificially preserved dead, dating thousands of years before Egyptian mummies, and the life quest of the archeologists who study them is to discover why this early...

JEMAAH Islamiah's attempts to develop bio-chem weapons to increase the devastation of future terror attacks must be taken seriously, a senior security analyst believes. A JI bio-chem instruction manual uncovered during a raid in the Philippines last year was among the most concerning intelligence to be picked up on the group, terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna will tell an Australian emergency medicine conference in Adelaide today. The 28-page document and traces of chemicals were found during the raid on a JI safe house in the village of Cotabato in October last year. The manual discusses obtaining cyanide and arsenic and their...

Officials Say Eric Miller Died In December 2000 Of Arsenic Poisoning RALEIGH, N.C. -- Since researcher Eric Miller's poisoning death almost four years ago, the focus has been on his wife, Ann Miller. Now, a grand jury has indicted her on first-degree murder in connection with her late husband's death. Ann Miller surrendered to authorities Monday after a grand jury indicted her for the death of her husband, Eric Miller. Miller surrendered to authorities shortly before 6 p.m. Monday. She walked into the Wake County Public Safety Center where she was placed in handcuffs and taken to the Raleigh Police...

Arsenic in Tuscany water 'five times limit' By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 26/06/2004) Britons holidaying in Tuscany this summer may be drinking up to five times the permissable level of arsenic in water without being told, The Telegraph has learnt. Although a national law limits arsenic to 10 microgrammes per litre, Tuscany used a legal loophole to pass a decree making an exception in many towns in the centre and south of the region.As a result, water can contain up to 50 microgrammes until the end of the year. Many of the towns involved, including Siena, are popular with...

SACRAMENTO, April 24 (AP) — California set a public health goal on Friday for arsenic in drinking water that is so low that it cannot be measured by existing technology and is far below a pending federal standard that is already projected to cost state ratepayers more than $80 million. The health goal of four parts per trillion means arsenic would not cause more than one additional cancer case in a population of one million people drinking two liters of water daily for 70 years, said the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment at the California Environmental Protection Agency. The...

When your car's carburetor wears out and you replace it, are you performing routine maintenance or extending the car's useful life? Around such quibbles a cottage industry has grown -- lawyers, environmental activists and others who see evil and corruption in environmental regulation. The carburetor debate -- routine maintenance or useful life -- applies to utilities. Business wants predictability, a rule that can be applied without risking suit. Environmentalists want coal-fired plants gone. Partisans want George W. Bush defeated. That's the brew. No other issue in public life is debated more emotionally in less context and with fewer facts than...

Will Saletan has another example of something Maureen Dowd has also mentioned in the past - that the Bush administration tried to increase the levels of arsenic in the drinking water. Who repeated that hoary old canard? None other than former president Bill Clinton at the Iowa State Fair, saying that the Republicans "tried to put more arsenic in the water." He knows that it was his administration that delayed new, tighter arsenic standards for eight years, and that all the incoming Bush administration did was to review the last-minute directives from the Clinton White House, before enforcing a standard...

EPA Arsenic Standard May Be UnconstitutionalAuthor: Environment & Climate News staff Published: The Heartland Institute 06/01/2003 The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the State of Nebraska presented arguments April 15 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging the constitutionality of the Environmental Protection Agency’s arsenic in drinking water standard. CEI, on behalf of several small water systems, and Nebraska charge the standard regulates a purely local issue and therefore exceeds Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In early 2002, EPA changed the standard for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts...

Iraqi Arrested After Letters in Belgium Friday June 6, 2003 3:09 AM By RAF CASERT Associated Press Writer BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Belgian authorities arrested an Iraqi man Thursday after 10 letters laced with toxic powders were sent to the Belgian prime minister, the American, Saudi and British embassies and other offices. The 45-year-old Iraqi was charged with premeditated assault and battery. Five police officials were treated for skin and eye irritation and breathing problems after examining bags of documents seized at the man's home in Deinze, some 30 miles west of Brussels, said judge Lieve Pellens. Fifteen other people...

<p>Health chief: Arsenic probable cause of illnesses at Maine church; parishioners had snacked By Glenn Adams, Associated Press, 4/29/2003 13:49 AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Arsenic was probably the cause of an outbreak of illnesses following a church gathering that killed one man and made others seriously ill, officials said Tuesday.</p>

Is radiation good for you? Or dioxin? Or Arsenic? The answer is yes, but only in very small doses, says one of the country's most respected toxicologists. If he's right, environmental regulation will never be the same. Any idiot should be able to poison a plant. That is what Edward Calabrese thought in 1966 as a junior at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. He was in a plant physiology class at the time, and his lab group had been told to dose some peppermint with an herbicide called Phosfon. The idea was to measure how much a given dose stunted...

SMOKE-FILLED ROOMS BROOKLYN TOBACCO PARTY by Herb Allen Issue of 2002-07-29Posted 2002-07-22 CLASH, which stands for Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, is the only organization dedicated exclusively to protecting the rights of New York City smokers. It was founded two years ago by Audrey Silk, a thirty-eight-year-old police officer in Brooklyn's Sixty-seventh Precinct, who smokes between one and two packs a day and was, she says, "sick and tired of the government telling me how to live my life." Under Silk's leadership, CLASH has opposed the ban on smoking in restaurants, fought proposals to raise the tax on cigarettes, and...

<p>South Dakota's Tim Johnson is widely considered the most endangered Senate Democrat. His generally liberal voting record is a tough sell in a conservative state that George W. Bush won easily in 2000. But Democrats and their interest-group allies think they've found a way to keep Johnson afloat: a big, green life preserver.</p>

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 Reducing Arsenic Holds Risks By Patrick ArmijoJournal Staff Writer     Several Albuquerque researchers contend that any health benefits derived from reducing arsenic in drinking water are so marginal they could be negated by accidents involving the trucks that would take treatment chemicals to water plants.     The federal government is requiring water systems to lower the standard of arsenic allowed from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion by 2006 — a move estimated to cost at least $400 million in New Mexico.     The researchers, including an epidemiologist and a university professor, dispute...

In this desert metropolis, where it is glaringly apparent that well water brings life, most townspeople refuse to believe that the arsenic in it can also bring death. "I'm born and raised here, and I'm still here," said Mayor Martin Chavez, echoing the sentiments of many of his constituents. "My grandparents lived long lives here. We've been here for several hundred years, and we're just fine, thank you." Just the same, the Environmental Protection Agency has given the city four years to slash its elevated arsenic levels and adhere to the new federal standard. The agency says the new limit...